[Nytburnr]

I have a Dell Dimension 4600 that I have used for years. Never had a problem with it. Added some ram (1.5 gigs now), and it worked well with just the one hard drive. A year ago I added a Seagate HD (250gb)and used it for storage. Then I got a new HP, so this machine sat for awhile. I decided to give it to my brother in law after it sat for 6 months. I turned it on and I got the blue screen and the system said it had a bad sector. I thought no problem. I will put windows in the storage drive and let him use that.

I did a complete installation of windows. After finishing the installation, I turned it off and restarted it. Now I get a black screen saing "Primary Drive not found". F1 to continue and F2 for the setup utility. Hit F1, it goes to desktop and works great.

I just want it to go to the desktop without hitting F1.

The HD had the jumper on Cable Select. I left it there and moved the new drive into the #1 slot where the original primary drive had been. I plugged in the black connector and power. Now I get the black screen with the writing mentioned above. I have tried moving the jumper to Master setting and I get the same thing.

Any ideas?

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Hi Nytburnr

The F1 to continue and F2 for the setup utility is most usually seen when the cmos battery needs to be replaced. The indication is that your hard drive does exist.
The computer is older and then just sitting without use causes the battery to drain. They are generally only good for a few years. The cmos tells the computer how to boot.

The battery is round like a quarter and costs about $5. It is easy to replace and can be found at a lot of stores. It is a CR2032.

After you change it you need to enter bios and reset the date and time. Pay attention to how it is clipped in and also the + and - sides.

[attachment=42486:Battery_...m_cr2032.jpg]

[123Runner]

Hi Nytburnr

The F1 to continue and F2 for the setup utility is most usually seen when the cmos battery needs to be replaced. The indication is that your hard drive does exist.
The computer is older and then just sitting without use causes the battery to drain. They are generally only good for a few years. The cmos tells the computer how to boot.

The battery is round like a quarter and costs about $5. It is easy to replace and can be found at a lot of stores. It is a CR2032.

After you change it you need to enter bios and reset the date and time. Pay attention to how it is clipped in and also the + and - sides.

[attachment=42486:Battery_...m_cr2032.jpg]

[peter99]

Just to add set IDE devices to auto detect if using IDE hard drives cd/dvd drives

[Nytburnr]

Thanks very much. I will give that a try.

[Nytburnr]

You guys are awesome. Thanks Very Much. Changing the battery did the trick.

[123Runner]

Congratulations. for a successful resolution for your issue. I am happy everything has been worked out for you. With that being said I am happy to say:


You are very welcome. I'm glad we could help and please let us know how everything works out for you.
If there is anything else we can do to help please feel free to ask. I appreciate that you allowed me to assist you with your issue and for your patience. Thank you for choosing GeeksToGo for help.
This issue now appears to be resolved.


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